Strategic Analysis: Zappos.com & Virginia Mason Hospital Report

This report examines the organizational culture of Zappos.com, focusing on its implementation of Holacracy and its impact on employees and business operations. It analyzes Zappos' customer-centric business strategy and the changes required to improve customer relationships. The report also explores the application of lean production in Virginia Mason Hospital, highlighting its effects on efficiency, including the reduction of response times and improvements in overall organizational performance. The analysis concludes with a comparative assessment of the successes and challenges of these strategic initiatives, offering valuable insights into organizational management and strategic decision-making.

BUSINESS STRATEGY
AND ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE

Zappos.com is an online retail based organization
that has been able to develop its position in the
industry with the help unique culture and work
environment. The analysis will be mainly based on
the effects that the culture of Zappos.com has on
the organizational operations (Hamilton &
Webster, 2018).
INTRODUCTION

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE OF ZAPPOS.COM
The major reasons related to Holacracy that has been implemented in
the organizational culture are based on the ways by which Zappos.com
can operate like a city rather than like a bureaucratic organization. The
CEO of the organization, Tony Hsieh had intended to implement the
Holacracy based culture in the first three years of the operations of
Zappos.com. The division of roles is mainly based on proper allotment
of responsibilities to the employees. Self-management has been
implemented effectively in order to improve the organizational
operations in an effective way. The increased responsibilities of
employees have been considered to be a major reason for
implementation of this structure (Husted, Allen & Kock, 2015).

EFFECT OF NEW ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
The implementation of Holacracy in Zappos.com had led to the changes that
were made in the job roles of many employees as well as managers. The self-
management related activities that were a part of the new organizational culture
of Zappos.com were not taken in a positive manner by many employees. Tony
had sent a mail to the employees for providing information based on the changes
that were being implemented. However, some of the employees did not take this
in a positive manner and 14% of the members of the organization had departed
(Ji-fan Ren et al., 2017).

GENERIC BUSINESS STRATEGY OF ZAPPOS.COM
The generic business strategy that has been implemented by Zappos.com is
based on the customer services. The investments that are made by Zappos.com
in the systems and people are more than its competitors in the industry. The
strategy of developing unique value for the customers of the organization has
been successful for Zappos.com and the firm has been able to gain a
competitive advantage in the online retail based industry. The company has
gained the position of the leading retailer of shoes in North America. The strategy
has been able to play a major in the positioning of the organization and
development of sustainable competitive advantage as well (Prajogo, 2016).

CHANGES REQUIRED IN ZAPPOS.COM
The generic business strategy that has been implemented by Zappos.com is
customer-centric in nature. The organization has aimed at gaining opportunities
in the footwear based industry with the help of proper relationships that can be
formed with the customers. The major issue that is related to the operations of
online organizations is based on the lack of trial based opportunities.
Zappos.com has been able to implement this in order to increase the
convenience levels of customers. The organization can however aim at
improving the implementation of its business levels strategies by improving the
relationships with customers and providing them with trial based opportunities as
well (Teh & Corbitt, 2015).

LEAN PRODUCTION IN VIRGINIA MASON HOSPITAL
The lean production based system that had been implemented in Virginia Mason
Hospital was mainly based on the ways by which inefficiency levels can be
reduced in different processes. The strategic implementation of lean production
system is considered to be a major factor that is able to influence the ways by
which different tasks can be performed by the organizations with the usage of
less resources. After the implementation of lean production in the system of
Virginia Mason Hospital, the results had depicted that the organization was highly
inefficient in nature previously. The lean production based system will thereby
help in improving the profitability levels of the organization in the industry. The
speed of operations in the organization has also been increased with the help of
this process (Wheelen et al., 2017).

EFFECT OF LEAN PRODUCTION
The most important part related to the implementation of lean
production was based on the reduction of response time of the doctors.
The delays that were taking place in the organization related to referral
systems had been reduced in a huge manner after this process was
applied. The reduction responsiveness of the organization towards its
customers had increased and this was the key based on the increase
in efficiency of its operations in the industry (Teh & Corbitt, 2015).

CONCLUSION
The analysis can be concluded by stating that the
change in organizational structure of Zappos.com was
partially successful. However, the implementation of lean
production in Virginia Mason Hospital had proved to be
an important turning point.

REFERENCES
Hamilton, L., & Webster, P. (2018). The international business environment. Oxford University
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Ji-fan Ren, S., Fosso Wamba, S., Akter, S., Dubey, R., & Childe, S. J. (2017). Modelling quality
dynamics, business value and firm performance in a big data analytics environme
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Prajogo, D. I. (2016). The strategic fit between innovation strategies and business environment
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Teh, D., & Corbitt, B. (2015). Building sustainability strategy in business. Journal of Business
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Wheelen, T. L., Hunger, J. D., Hoffman, A. N., & Bamford, C. E. (2017). Strategic management
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